Improvement in ice-increasers



L. TOWNSEND.

Improvement in lce-lncreasers.

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'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS TOWNSEND, OF TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ICE-INCREASERS.

Specicationforming part of Letters Patent No. 126,109, dated April 23, 187:2.

Specification describing a new and Improved Ice-Increaser, invented by Louis TowNsEND, of Terre Haute, in the county of Vigo and State of Indiana.

Figure l is a detail view illustrating my invention. Fig. 2 is a side View of the same, partly in sectionthrough the line .r w, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional View of thc same takenthrough the line y y, Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

My invention has for its object to furnish a simple and convenient device by means of which the thickness of ice in rivers, lakes,

` ponds, Sac., may be readily and rapidly increased, and it consists in the device constructed as hereinafter more fully described.

A B are two planks placed edge to edge, and at right angles with eachother, and which are firmly secured to each other. The boards or planks A are strengthened and braced in position by the end pieces C, to which their ends are securely attached, and the projectingA corner of which may, for convenience, be rounded o. D D are pieces of boards, in one side of which is formed a notch equal in breadth to twice the thickness of the boards or planks of which the sections A B C are made.

In using the device, as soon as the ice has acquired a sufficient thickness to bear the workman a sufficient number of the sections A B C, to inclose the desired space, are placed end to end and secured to each other by the notched key or lock-boards D, which are forced down upon the adjacent endboards C, as shown in Figs. l and 2. In turning a corner the side board A of one section is placed against the end board O of the other section and they are locked together by one of the lock-boards D, as shown in Figs. l and 2. The edges or lower parts of the sections, when arranged, are wet with water from a watering-pot, or otherwise, which freezes them to the ice. A hole is then cut into the ice upon the outside of the inclosed space, into which a pump is inserted, and sufficient water is pumped into the inclosed space to fill it to the depth of one, two, or three inches. Theinclosed water being spread out into a thin sheet upon an ice surface, and being exposed to the cold air, speedily freezes into a solid mass. Another layer of water may then be pumped onto it, and so on until ice of the desired thickness has been formed. The sections A B G are then removed and the ice is sawn into blocks and taken out in the ordinary manner.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Iatent- The sections A B C and lock or key-boards D, constructed substantially as herein shown and described, to adapt them for use as and for the purpose set forth.

LOUIS TOWNSEND.

Witnesses:

JAMES T. GRAHAM, T. B. Mosman. 

